Sharon Finn’s studio is filled with warm afternoon sunlight. The place has a magical feeling as the sun plays with coloured beads and glass, gold butterflies, watches, clocks, buttons, metal off-cuts, crystal teardrops, pearls and vintage jewellery, splashing jewel-like colours across the walls and ceiling.

Music plays out along a hallway. Boxes of brooches and earrings, crucifixes and what looks like a miniature cutlery set are all part of this world.

Hanging in the room are the most beautiful handcrafted chandeliers in a palette of red, gold, green, bronze, burnt sienna and the palest of blue mirrored glass, their patterns and shapes dancing to Finn’s creative beat.

“I’m obsessed with them," Finn says. “I see a material I like and that’s it. I love the sourcing and collecting and from that comes the idea. The art of creating and seeing it through to the end, of pushing it and doing something different, of keeping it fresh – that’s what I love.”

Each piece can take months to create. The intricate designs are all handmade – with no gloves – and the glass is all cut 
by hand.

“You need to feel the chicken wire and twist the shapes and then apply the 
hand-cut beads and glass,” Finn says. “My hands are full of calluses from working with these materials, but it’s worth it.”

Finn takes her time, whether sitting at night, working in her studio and workshop during the day or in her parents’ garage with the music cranked up. “It doesn’t matter where I am, I’m always thinking of the next idea,” she says. “When I’m away I’m itching to get back into it. I just don’t switch off. I enjoy that creative process of always thinking of a new idea or how to do it differently.”

Collecting materials for her pieces in New York and while travelling, Finn’s creative process begins at the point of sourcing those materials: “Walking around, getting into those backstreets where you find all sorts of great stuff, the inspiration comes and then the shapes and play begin.”

Often, pieces can change after Finn begins, despite her setting out with a plan in mind. Though she has been known to scrap completed works because “they just didn’t feel right and weren’t 100 per cent”, the thought and process that goes into making them is a labour of love.

“I’m very fortunate to be able to do this. I’ve always had a work space,” Finn says. “I have a great group of friends and a supportive family who have pushed me and given me the confidence to go for it. I’m now taking more risks and the work is more challenging.”

Part of Finn’s latest collection is a series of female torsos: freestanding mannequins covered in mosaics and with vintage buttons, cut glass, beads and ticking watches. Finn celebrates the female form, taking the viewer into a world of embellishment while continuing to play with colour and light. Her technique has evolved and developed.

“The female form is appreciated universally – people can relate to it,” Finn says. Embellished completely, each mannequin creates its own story, requiring the viewer to walk around the piece and appreciate not only the female form but also the perfection and precision of technique and application.

“The mannequins have given me a different kind of canvas to work on. There’s a real freedom to them in putting my mark on them,” Finn says.

Showing while the Biennale of Sydney is being held, Finn’s “The Gilded Cage” manages to throw open the doors and let the dancing light in so that it can weave its magic.

EXHIBITION

August 19–30

Simmer on the Bay Gallery

Shore 2/3 Walsh Bay

13 Hickson Road

Dawes Point, Sydney

simmeronthebay.com.au